The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1887-11-16

to bit and trace, viii make it dash off the
more uncomfortable. Many seem to think
| that children are fiax-not fit for use till
| they have been hetcheled and swingled.
Some one talking to child said: Il Won
der what makes that tree out there so
crooked. " The child replied: Il suppose
| it was trod upon while it was young
In some families all the discipline is con-
cenetred upon one child's head. If any
thing Is done wrong, the supposition is
| that George did it. He broke the latch.
de left open the gate. He hacked the
bannisters. He whitfield sticks on the
carpets. And George shall be the scape-
| goat for all domestic misunderstanding
| and suspicious. If things get wrong in
| the culinary department, In comes the
mother and says, angrily: s'Where
| is George?" If business matters
are perplexing at the store, in
comes the father at night and says, an
grny: Where is George?" In many a
household there is such one singled out
| for suspicion and castigation. All the
sweet flowers of his soul blasted under
| this perpetual northeast storm, he curses
| the day in which he was born. Safer
| the child in an ark of bulrushes on the
| Nile, among crocodiles, than in an ele-
| CANT mansion, amid such domestic gor-
| gons. A mother was passing along the
| street one day, and came up 10 her little
| child, who did not see her approach, and
| her child was saying to her playmate:
''You good for nothing little scamp, you
come right into the house this minute or
| will beat you till the skin comes off. -
The mother broke in, saying: 'sWhy,
| Lizzie, l am surprised to hear you talk
| like that to any onei'' sOh,'' said the
child, Il was only playing, and he is my
little boy, and / am scolding him, as you
| did me this morning." Children are apt
| to be echoes of their parents.
Safer in Bethlehem manger among
| cattle and camels with gentle Mary to
watch the little innocent than the most ex-
travagant nursery, over which God star
of peace never stood. The trapper extin-
guishes the flames on the prairie by fight
ing fire with fire, but you cannot, with
| the fire of your own disposition, put out
the fire of a child's disposition.
Yet we may rush to the other extreme
| and rule children by too great leniency.
The surgeon is not unkind because, not
withstanding the resistance of his patient,
he goes straight on with firm hand and
unfaltering heart to take off the gan
CREME. Nor is the parent less affection
ate and faithful because, notwithstanding
all violent remonstrances on the part Of
the child, he with the firmest discipline
| advances to the cutting off of its evil in
clinations. The Bible says: 'Chasten
thy son while there is hope, and let not
thy soul spare for his crying" Childish
| rage unchecked will, after while, be-
come hurricane. Childish petulance
will grow up into misanthropy. Childish
| rebellion will develop into the lawlessness
of riot and sedition. If you would ruin
the child, dance to his every caprice and
stuff him with confectionery. Before
| you are aware of it that boy of years
| will go down the street, cigar in his
| mouth and ready on any corner with his
| comrades to compare pugilistic attain
| ments. The parent who allows the child
| to grow up without ever having learned
the great duty of obedience and submis-
| sion has prepared cup of burning gall
| for his own lips and appalling destruc-
| ton for his descendant. Remember Eli
| and his two sons, Hophni and Phinehas
A second error prevalent in the train
| ing of children is laying out of theory
and following it without arranging it to
varieties of disposition. In every family
| you will find striking differences of tenn
perament. This child is too timid, and
| that too bold, and this too miserly, and
| that too wasteful; this too Inactive and
| that too boisterous. Now, the farmer
| who should plant corn and wheat and
| turnlps In just the same way, then put
them through one hopper and grind them
In the same mill. would not be so much
of fool as the parents who should at
| tempt to discipline and educate all their
children in the same manner 1t needs a
shiiih uh ilollIa ~ ea75->-t &Lese ohool=s and
balances Tho riei1itJr nf oovarnrnant
which is necessary to hold in this impetu-
GUS ne ture would utterly crush that f1ex-
| lie disposition, while the gentle reproof
that would suffice for the latter would,
when used on the former, be like at
| tempting to hold champing Bucephalus
| with reins of gossamer. God gives us in
| the disposition of each child hint as
to how we ought to train him, and, as
God in the mental structure of our chill.
dren indicates what mode of training
| is the best, he also indicates in
| the disposition their future occupation.
| Do not write down that child as dull be-
| cause it may not now be as brilliant as
your other children or as those of your
| neighbor. Some of the mightiest men
| and women of the centuries had stupid
childhood. Thomas Aquinas was called
at school ''the dumb OK, but afterward
| demonstrated his sanctifed genius and
was called 1.-the angel of the schools"
| and 'Sthe eagle of Brittany" Kindness
| and patience with child will conquer
almost anything, and they are, virtues so
| Christianhke that they are inspiring to
| look at. John Wesley's kiss of child
on the pulpit stairs turned Matthias Joyce
| from profigate into flaming evangel.
| The third error prevalent in the train
| ing of children is the one sided develop
ment of either the physical, intellectual
or moral nature at the expense of the
others. Those, for instance, greatly mis-
| take who, while they are faithful in the
intellectual and moral culture of chill
dren, forget the physical. The bright
| eyes half quenched by night study, the
| cramped chest that comes from too much
| bending over school desks, the weak side
| resulting from sedentariness of habit,
pale cheeks and the gaunt bodies of null
| titudes of children attest that physical
| development does not always go along
| with intellectual and moral. How do
| you suppose all those treasures of knowl-
| edge the child gets viii look in shattered
casket? And how much will you give
| for the wealthiest cargo when it is put
into a leaky ship? How can that bright,
sharp blade of child's attainments be
welded without any handle? What are
brains worth without shoulders &c
carry them? What is a child with mag
| pffff.anf mind h1It an QxhaTSfad hndu
Better that young man of 81 go forth
into the world without knowing A from
z, if he have health of body and energy
to push his way through the world, thar
at 81 to enter upon active life, his head
stuffed with Socrates, and Herodotus
and Bacon, and La Place, but no physi
cal force to sustain him in the shock ot
earthly conflicts From this infinite
blunder of parents how many have come
out in life with a genius that could hav'
piled Ossa upon Pelion, and mountet
upon them to scale the heavens, and hav,
laid down painting with physical exhaus
ton before mole hill. They who nigh
have thrilled senates and marshalee
armies and startled the world with tn
shock of their scientific batteries, hav'
passed their lives in picking up prescrip
tions for Indigestion. They owned al
the thunderbolts of Jupiter, but could no
get out of their rocking chai, to US
| them. George Washington in early hf
was a poor speller. and spelled ha
h-a-double-t, and ream of paper b
| spelled ssrheam," but he knew enougl
to spell out the independence of thu
country from foreign oppression, Tn
knowledge of the. schools is important
but there are other things quite as Inn
portant.
Just as great is the wrong done whel
| fle, mind Il f11lfixak<ad and the heart neg